I received my Czech Model 1/48 scale F3D-2 Skynight this weekend from Sguadron. I wasn’t very pleased when I opened the box and looked at it.
It has very deep and wide recessed panel lines. The gun ports are represented as round recessed holes, not even being the same size. The wings are warped and the trailing edges are almost as thick as the leading edges. The resin cockpit is nice but the instrument panel has only recessed round holes with no detail. The side consoles have only raised circles with no detail. There are no locating pins or guides showing where the cockpit tub mounts in the fuselage sides.
The intakes and exhaust do not have any locating guides and would be a bear to fit and line up. The instructions tell you to drill holes in the resin wheel wells to mount the struts.
The canopy/windshield is a three part assembly, left, right and top. The clear parts were loose in the bag of other plastic parts and mine is very scratched up.
It is going to take a lot of work to build this kit. I am anxious to see if FSM does a kit preview of this model.
Berny13,
Thanks for the initial looksee. I wanted this kit, but now will wait a while to see if they improve thier molds. I am pretty surprised since my experience with CM kits has been pretty good.
Bummer. Sounds like CM took a step backwards on this one. I expect the LHS will have the kit in this week & I was planning on getting one. Will have to take a long hard look.
Yep, thanks for the heads up Berny, because I’ve always wanted a 1/48 DRUT, just because it’s so ugly (not to mention a rare modeling subject), but I’ll have to wait a bit longer it appears.
TOM
Bummer! I preordered one when it first came out. I see it has been charged to my card so it should be here any day. I was hoping it would be a decent kit for that price. Oh well, I’ll make the best of it!
I’ve built Czech Model’s XP-55 and their XP-56 and both were wonderful kits! I’m surprised that their Skyknight didn’t seem to be as good. Don’t forget that these are still limitted run kits so they aren’t going to have all of the nice mounting guides that we’re pretty much used to. The two kits of theirs I built didn’t have cockpit mounting guides either nor did they have any tabs or slots or any guides whatsoever for the wing-to-fuse assembly. Truth be told, the kits were so nice that they didn’t need any. I really don’t know how or why their F3 would not be as nice as their previous releases. That’s like Tamiya suddenly putting out a real stinker of a kit all of a sudden.
I got mine today and actually it looks as good as any other CM kit I’ve built. It will be a challenge but it looks like it should build into a decent model.
MMMmm its a shame that CM basically came up in the ranks and then they peter out with this one[:(].
But I am still look forward to getting this…!! I figure I need a lil challenge in my life… Then again this is what modeling is all about right[;)]
Yet for the price, I’d figure it should go together like a Tamiya kit …Well thats what you get for limited run molds I guess[:p][;)].
Hiya Berny,
Long time no chat…BTW, enjoy spoiling the grand kids over the holidays??
Flaps up, Mike
I just got my CM F3 Skyknight on Friday. Took a nice ding out of the wallet but oh well. Family obligations limit me to about three models a year so $47 for the kit isn’t too bad all in all. But anywho, I opened up the box once I got home and everything looks great. I feel bad to say this Berny but maybe the kit you got was sort of a fluke. It should have been caught by CM before it went out the door. There was no warpage on my kit. YEs the gun ports are “filled in” but they’re evenly sized, shaped and spaced. I’ll drill those out when the time comes. The panel lines don’t look any different than on any other manufacturer’s kit. I wonder if you could take yours back to the hobby shop and have them order you a new one. It would stink to have to wait so long for a new one to come in but at least you’d be getting a well made one instead of the bum one.
I agree with Eric. I’ve read a lot of appreciative reviews on many different kits, only to go buy one and get the “ugly duckling” of the production run. A good example is the AMTech Ta-183. Mine sucked. But I read so many reviews extolling the virtues of this new kit that I wondered what happened to mine. Just bad luck sometimes. It’s happened to me just a few times, but it does happen. Take it back and exchange it for another new F3D. Maybe (more than likely) you’ll get one in better shape. Good Luck.
Just looked at one at my LHS today. Over all kit does not look bad at all. The panel lines of the F3D look to be consistent throughout. In some areas they seem to be a little wider than norm but over all ok.
One thing that I did notice was the resin interior and some of its accessories seemed to not have been formed well. Side console detail was good in some areas and other areas it seemed not to have any detail at all. The seats looked like lounge chairs with foot rest attached. A lot of excess resin in this area. The only thing that looked great was the joy stick[;)]
The instrument panel was clean and crisp. Berny, I see what you mean that the dials do not have any detail to them. One thing, is your instrument panel thin?? This particular kit was. It looks fairly simple to sand the back side and add some clear stock and then dials…!!
As for the wings, I could not get a real good view of them.
To me what I have gathered, the production run has it pros and cons from what I have read here. I guess it all depends on what batch you get.
Still very temping though…[;)]
Flaps up, Mike
I am build a CM XP-77 right now and is the first CM kit that Ive built. When I first got it I was slightly disappointed because detail seemed to be soft and there wasnt any alignment tabs and lots of flashing on all parts. So th kit sat in the closet for several months until recently when I decided to give it a go and I must say Im glad I did. I figure that if anything its sorta of a test, to see if Ive learned anything and see if my skills are improving from building fall together Tamiya and other very well crafted kits. Also as far as cockpit aligning tabs go which were the only ones the kit has I ended up removing them to get a better fit. I must say I have enjoyed building this kit very much.
I contacted Squadron and I will be getting a replacement canopy. The wings did not have that great of a warp, so I will be able to do something with them. I have plenty of instruments on film that I can use. There isn’t anything in the kit that isn’t fixable.
My first observation of the kit was, for the price, it should have been better. It isn’t beyond my capability to build, so I plan on having many hours of fun building it.
Mike, the instrument panel is thin, so I might take your idea for the gages.
Picked one up today at the LHS. The engraving isn’t Tamiya/Hasegawa quality but not bad for a limited run kit. I didn’t see any warpage, but when I got it home & took a closer look I saw that the 3 piece canopy had broke off the sprue & the center section was cracked all the way across. It will be returned tomorrow for a replacement or refund. I’m getting real tired of $50.00 kits with everything just stuffed in a bag in a flimsy box. The decals are very mediocre BTW, but I’m pretty sure Aftermarket will come to the rescue.